Tips on The Best Ways To Buy and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures

Tips on The Best Ways To Buy and Shop for Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures

Many visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while visiting the country. These are the stunning handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic regions of Canada. While in some of the significant Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail stores and showed at some museums. Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for numerous tourists and art collectors to choose that they want to purchase Inuit sculptures as great souvenirs for their houses or as really special presents for others. Assuming that the intention is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art instead of a low-cost traveler imitation, the question arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the phonies?

It would be quite disappointing to bring home a piece only to find out later on that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern store or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would need to be more careful elsewhere in Canada, specifically in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian souvenirs such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are sold.

The best locations to buy Inuit sculptures to ensure credibility are always the reliable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. A few of these galleries have advertisements in the city tourist guides discovered in hotels.

Trustworthy Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which adheres totally to Inuit art. These galleries will usually be located in the downtown tourist areas of major cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and perhaps Native art but none of the other typical traveler mementos such as postcards or t-shirts . These galleries will have just genuine Inuit art for sale as they do not handle phonies or imitations . Simply to be even much safer, make certain that the piece you have an interest in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handmade by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all genuine pieces are signed. So know that an anonymous piece might still be undoubtedly genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialized galleries, there are now reputable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.

Some traveler stores do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of tourists. When shopping at these kinds of shops, it is possible to tell apart the real pieces from the reproductions. Authentic Inuit sculpture is carved from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. Stone is also cold to the touch. A reproduction made of plastic or resin from a mold will be much lighter in weight and will not be cold to the touch. A reproduction will sometimes have a company name on it such as Wolf Originals or Boma and will never ever include an artist's signature. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the shop shelves will look exactly like it. The piece is not genuine if there are duplicates of a particular piece with precise information. If a piece looks too perfect in detail with outright straight bottoms or sides, it is most likely not real. Of course, if a piece includes a sticker label showing that is was made in an Asian country, then it is obviously a phony. There will also be a huge rate distinction between genuine pieces and the replicas.

Where it ends up being more difficult to figure out authenticity are with the recreations that are also made of stone. This can be a genuine gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handmade however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are probably not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the main Igloo tag that comes with it which will know on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was carved. If the Igloo tag is not readily available, move on. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are usually kept in a separate ( possibly even locked) rack within the shop.

Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more worldwide exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky Kurt Criter Denver enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern store or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. Reliable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is dedicated completely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have websites so you might go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.